Nov. 1, 2016
Pebble Beach, Calif. – Georgia Tech’s golf team was unable to sustain the momentum generated by a pair of upset wins on Monday, and met its match Tuesday in a 19 ½ – 4 ½ loss to 15th-ranked Southern California in the championship match of the Cypress Point Classic at the Cypress Point Club.
The third round of the event featured six singles match in each contest utilizing the same scoring format at the foursomes and fourball matches on Monday — four total points available in each match, one for the front nine, one for the back nine and two for the overall match.
Junior James Clark (Columbus, Ga.) earned the only win for the Yellow Jackets, defeating Justin Suh, 3-1, in the leadoff match. Sophomore Tyler Joiner (Leesburg, Ga.), junior Chris Petefish (Danville, Calif.) and freshman Luke Schniederjans (Powder Springs, Ga.) each earned a half-point by halving the back nine in their matches.
UCLA defeated No. 6 Stanford, 16-8, in the third-place match, while No. 10 Wake Forest overcame California, 14-10, to capture fifth place. Alabama got past No. 14 Georgia, 13 ½ – 10 ½, completing a winless tournament for the Bulldogs.
Southern California 19 ½, Georgia Tech 4 ½
James Clark (GT) def. Justin Suh (USC), 3-1
Andrew Levitt (USC) def. Vincent Whaley (GT), 4-0
Jonah Texeira (USC) def. Tyler Joiner (GT), 3 ½ – ½
Sean Crocker (USC) def. Chris Petefish (GT), 3 ½ – ½
Cheng Jin (USC) def. Tyler Strafaci (GT), 4-0
Rico Hoey (USC) def. Luke Schniederjans (GT), 3 ½ – ½
COACH Bruce Heppler SAYS — “We ran into a really good team who played extremely well today. They have veteran guys who have been in the mix the past two NCAA Championships. But this has been a great experience to end the fall, and I think we got better as a team this week.”
TOURNAMENT INFORMATION — The Cypress Point Classic is a bracketed match play event hosted by Stanford, featuring Alabama, California, Georgia, Southern California, UCLA and Wake Forest, six of whom are ranked among the top 30 teams in the nation by Golfstat. The eight teams were pre-seeded No. 1 through No. 8 in order by average ranking between Golfstat and Golfweek rankings seven days prior to event. No. 1 seed plays No. 8 seed, etc., in the first round of bracketed play. Winners go forward in bracket, losers move to consolation bracket. Each team was guaranteed three matches under each format outlined.
Round one was contested with fourball, or best ball, matches. Teams competed in foursomes, or alternate shot, matches in round two. Round three featured singles matches.
Four total points are available per match. One point each is awarded for front-nine match, back-nine match, and two points for the overall match. Each match is played over 18 holes under the format set for that round. The total number of “holes won” by each side over the full 18-holes settled ties. Teams with highest point total at the end of each round advanced in the bracket.
TEAM UPDATE — Georgia Tech is ranked No. 29 in this week’s Golfstat rankings and No. 30 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Index. Tech’s travel team for the Cypress Point Classic was created using a qualification system based on points accumulated through players finishes in the Yellow Jackets’ first three events this fall and team qualifying rounds.
